


it's called a hustle, sweetheart

by stilljunhui (acyria)



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Police, M/M, Mentions of drugs, Mild discrimination, Zootopia Inspired
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-10 04:59:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11120397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acyria/pseuds/stilljunhui
Summary: Minghao’s only hope is Wen Junhui. That’s how bad things are.





	it's called a hustle, sweetheart

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from a line in Zootopia / Zootropolis (personally, I know it as Zootopia) because I am in love with that movie and also can you imagine Junhui and Nick Wilde and Minghao as Judy Hopps? Because I can. Yes. This fic is highkey inspired by the movie but doesn’t follow the movie’s plot (Junhao’s not animals nor are they animal hybrids, so) which took me a complicated time to come up with this but yes. It’s more PG than the original movie, that’s for sure.
> 
> Make sure to check the warnings!
> 
> Warnings: Swearing, mentions of drugs (since a drug syndicate is involved), mild discrimination (for plot sake, and only that, no harm meant at all nor does this indicate my own beliefs. Trust me, I am Chinese), basically things you’d expect to find in a crime show or something so not everything is rainbows and butterflies! 
> 
> Disclaimer: This is my first time writing something like this??? Uh, Zootopia doesn’t belong to me but I do use some lines and concepts from the movie here and there, since I did mention it was inspired by it. I’m sorry if there are any obvious inaccuracies or plots I wasn’t able to fill out in my rush to finish this, but I’ll go over all of them again once the whole fic is done!
> 
> Huge thanks to my best friend Marigold for allowing me to yell plot ideas and groan at her about how I have no idea what to do as she gives me ideas and also proofread the fic for me over Google Docs, since my 2AM self is sure to have a lot of typos. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy reading! 

Parking duty.

 

Xu Minghao graduated at the top of the academy, beating out everybody who was taller, bigger, and older than him— yet here he was, stuck in parking duty, handing out tickets to cars that had expired parking meters. Really? It had been alright, at first. He was the newest and youngest one assigned to the Seoul district— the biggest and best police force in South Korea, so he had to climb his way up, right?

 

That had been months ago. _Months_ have passed and he still had to wear the ugly, neon orange vest that was an abomination to look at, even more so to wear. He’s positive the head of the police department, Choi Seungcheol, does it on purpose. Minghao wasn’t just young, he was also Chinese, a foreign kid stuck in a big city who wanted to work with the big boys. That was how he was described when he first entered the force; it’s not like they were wrong.

 

Still, it’s not like they were right, either. 

 

Anyways, it was bad enough that Minghao didn’t like his job, but the thing the good citizens of Seoul began to dislike _him_ as well. Complaints about how Minghao didn’t even allow them a fewminutes to get to the car even after the meter expired came in on a daily basis, but he can’t help it. He was a police officer, parking duty or not, so he was going to do his job with integrity. That was the only thing he had to live up to, after all. A hundred parking tickets an hour was nothing. 

 

It was the same, boring schedule every single day. He would show up in the office with a small bit of hope that he would be assigned to a case this time around, only to end up being handed the ticket gun and the hideous vest. Meanwhile, the other guys in the force would be given tasks like catching someone who just robbed a bank, figuring out who killed a wealthy business man, going undercover for a drug heist— all things that Minghao was positive he could do a good job at, if he was only given the chance. 

 

The day finally came when Seungcheol entered the office looking more worn out than usual.

 

He had dark bags under his eyes and a bunch of folders in his hands. His second in command, Jeonghan, hauled in one of those projectors and a laptop. Minghao perked up in his seat, immediately sensing that something serious was afoot. Only really important cases got its own slideshow presentation. Everybody knew that. Those chattering around him also began to slowly settle down, faces grim. Seungcheol regarded the room with a nod, going on with the usual roll call faster than usual. 

 

“Alright, I’m sure you all know why I had to bring in the projector today,” he said, pausing to scan the room. “We’ve just received a pretty big case. I want all hands on deck, for this one.”

 

He began to go through the slideshow soon after. There had apparently been missing people cases outside of Seoul these past few weeks, but it was only recently that things began to tie together with a 4th person missing. Seungcheol flashed a slide that contained photos of the 4 missing, along with their names. It took Minghao a few seconds to realize why they seemed so familiar, and Seungcheol confirmed his suspicions soon after. They were all police officers— some of the best ones, too, others who were also top of their class or batch back in the academy— who were assigned to different districts.

 

They were the best.

 

Minghao was sure the others in the room had the same feeling of unease.

 

Now they were missing.

 

“Each individual district has been trying to find their missing members, but with no such luck,” Seungcheol explained, a mix of worry and anger clear in his voice as he allowed the other officers to process the information. He moved to the next slide, which showed blurry road camera screenshots of dark streets and empty warehouses. There were a couple of faces, too, but it was too grainy to be distinguished. 

 

“Like some of us here,” he continued, nodding in particular at a still shell-shocked Jeonghan, who was hearing all this for the first time, too. Jeonghan knew all the names on the list a little too well seeing how he worked with all of them. “They were working on the Shin drug syndicate case. These are some of their last known sightings.”

 

Minghao’s eyes widened in surprised; he knew about the Shin case even before he joined the academy, heard it being told in hush little whispers in the streets of Anshan back in China. It was _that_ well known and also that much kept in the dark that it had to be told in secret. It was also one of the reasons why he was so determined to be a police officer. Knowing that he finally had a chance to help with it made him listen more attentively than ever.

 

“We were originally told to stay out of it,” Seungcheol continued, clearly annoyed by the idea. “As if we would. They didn’t want to risk Seoul district’s members, but would we be good police officers if we just protected ourselves?”

 

A loud chorus of no sir’s rang in the room.

 

He beamed at his officers for a moment, proud, before quickly reverting back to his serious self, “that’s right. Now we know we have Jeonghan and Minki on the case already, but also that they’ve been on a dead end for a few months now. Until we were _finally_ updated with this. Instead of keeping shut, I want all of you to help. You’ll be assigned to help find the missing members, as well as dig up any sort of information you can. Also, Jeonghan and Minki will be taken out of the case— they’re too exposed, already, but they’ll be around to help.”

 

Seungcheol began to call their names and give out folders, each containing information about the missing person as well as what the district knows about the Shin case. Minghao was buzzing in his seat as he waited. Finally! Not only was he going to be given the chance to do something other than parking duty, it was a high-end case at that. His head was already swimming with ideas and things he could do, when his name was finally called.

 

“Seo Myengho!”

 

“Yes, Sir!” He jumped out of his seat and walked to Seungcheol, holding his hands out for a folder, only to receive none.

 

Seungcheol stared at him, “you know how the Shin case has big connections in China. I’m not sure the people here in Korea would feel very comfortable with a Chinese on the case. Also, considering your history—”

 

Minghao interrupted him immediately with a frown, “Sir, no offense, but I’ve been in Korea for 7 years now. You know why I wanted to join the academy and I even graduated as number one, top of my batch. Isn’t it enough proof that I’ll be giving my all in this case? Why would I slack now? If anything, I could communicate with the Chinese police, give us more information and—“

 

“We can have one of the others do that,” Seungcheol interrupted, waving a hand at no one in particular. Minghao was aware that even if the other people in the room were staying away, most of them were listening in. Getting told he couldn’t do a case because he was new and young was one thing, but because he’s _Chinese_? That was definitely too much and way too unfair. He wasn’t accepting it.

 

“Please,” he said, gaze falling to the last remaining folder in Seungcheol’s hand. “You said _all_ of us should help.”

 

Soonyoung came up from behind the chief, clapping a hand on his shoulder, having sensed the tense atmosphere between the two. He was good friends with Minghao despite never really working together, seeing how he was usually the district’s doorman. The fact that he was given a shot to help in the case but Minghao wasn’t didn’t sit very well with him.

 

“Chief, Sir, Chief Seungcheol,” Soonyoung said, offering the older boy his best smile. “I really think Myeongho here could help. I heard his offer— he has a point. We need someone with an in when it comes to China’s side of things. If you don’t trust him there, then he can help around here. The Shin drug syndicate is our enemy, but they don’t represent all of China and definitely not our young boy over here.”

 

Minghao nodded furiously at that, grateful for Soonyoung’s input regardless.

 

After a few more moments of deliberation, Seungcheol appeared to give in with a loud sigh. He finally handed the last folder to Minghao, who took note about how thin it was compared to the rest he saw the others holding. He was proved right when he opened to find just a one page report— a few words and a photo, nothing else. Seungcheol must have noticed his surprise at that, too, since he regarded Minghao with a look that was equal parts challenging and doubtful. 

 

“Sure you can do it?”

 

Minghao closed the folder with determination in his eyes, “yes, Sir.”

 

/

 

The Chinese boy’s forehead met the desk for the 13th time that morning. He was glad to finally be on a case, of course, but a _one page report_? He had read over what he got hundreds of times by now. One of Goyang’s police officers, Lee Jihoon, was actually last seen in Seoul so at least he didn’t have to travel too far. Jihoon had picked up a lead that led him to some Chinese shop— of course, it did— and then wasn’t heard from since. There was nothing else about it since it was his first task, plus how he wasn’t able to report back.

 

The photo included was obviously from one of those streetcams. It showed Jihoon’s bright hair clearly enough, but the surroundings were too dark to decipher properly. He had it taken to district’s investigation office to enlarge and maybe make things clearer, but with everybody else probably doing the same he knew it was going to take a long time.

 

Time that shouldn’t be wasted.

 

Minghao stared at the photo long and hard, trying to make sense of at least the blurry Chinese writing. If he could locate where the shop was, he could always start there. It took him a few seconds to decipher, with an annoyed groan, that the words weren’t actual Chinese. It was a Chinese themed English font, meaning he was staring at English alphabets, and he _really_ wanted to strangle someone at this point but decided to save it for later. 

 

First, to head to Tien Mun.

 

/

 

Minghao reached Jongno street within half an hour; he’s never actually been to Daelim’s resident Chinatown even in the years he’s been around since he figured he had enough of Chinese food at home. He missed it sometimes, though, but never really had enough time. It didn’t come as that big of a surprise that most of the people around the area was Chinese. Which was a good thing, because at least he could communicate with them, but he can’t help but repeat Seungcheol’s words in his head.

 

Maybe he can’t trust all of them, which saddened even him.

 

The brunette entered the nearest shop he saw, which happened to be a small dimsum store. Theold Chinese lady at the counter eyed him warily, which made sense because he was still in uniform after all.

 

“Can I help you?” she asked in accented Korean.

 

Minghao offered her his best smile, opting to speak in Mandarin instead if it helped calm her down.

 

“Hi,” he started, seeing the relief flood her face immediately. “I don’t mean to disturb, but can I ask where the shop Tien Mun is? The writing is in English.”

 

The lady nodded, “it’s a bit further down from here, just go straight then turn right when you see the store Yilien then you should see it immediately. May I ask why?”

 

“I’m afraid I can’t let you get involved, Auntie,” Minghao said, offering her an apologetic shrug. “District rules.”

 

“That was what the last officer who asked said, too,” she replied sadly. “He wasn’t as nice as you, though— went up to me with a badge and started asking things, it took me a while to understand.”

 

Minghao froze; Jihoon had been here, too? So this place was a possible lead. Then again, he was probably even more tight-lipped about the case. Still, this was a good start. He gave himself a mental pat on the back for deciding to visit this store in particular. He offered the lady another smile while his mind worked up some questions he could ask.

 

“Could you tell me more about the officer you saw?” he asked, aware that Jihoon was most likely in regular clothes if he had to visit a lead. Something Minghao should have done, too, but he didn’t have the time to change. Hopefully it won’t cause him anything. 

 

The lady paused to think before nodding, “he was short and grumpy. His hair was bright yellow, really hard to forget. He wasn’t in uniform like you,” Minghao nodded at this, confirming his thoughts. “He was wearing a dark sweater that looked too big on him. I remember offering him some food since he looked like he was drowning in it. That’s all I remember.”

 

The Chinese boy smiled at her when she finished, “thank you so much!” 

 

“Auntie!” A loud voice sounded just as Minghao was debating with himself whether he should buy something to support her store. The lady who had been smiling at Minghao this whole time turned to the door with a small scowl, but there was amusement lying underneath, the boy noticed.

 

“Wen Junhui, you are not getting free food today,” she scolded immediately. The police officer almost missed the sound of angry Mandarin. Almost.

 

Somebody stopped right next to Minghao, making the latter turn to look at him. Junhui was taller than he was, with black hair and tan skin. He sported a charming grin on his face as he regarded the store owner, ignoring Minghao’s presence completely, it seemed. He pointed to a rack of dimsum and pleaded, “please, I’m really hungry, you know I’ll pay you back when I can!”

 

“You never do,” she chided, but Minghao saw that she was already preparing a plate for him. Must have been a normal thing, then. 

 

Minghao was about to tell her that he’ll be on his way when she stopped, turning to the boys.

 

“Officer, you can ask Junhui here for help. He’s worked at Tien Mun, haven’t you?”

 

It was then Junhui finally glanced at him around the same time Minghao whirled back to face him, face gleaming with hope that he had managed to land himself another lead, when the tall boy opened his mouth to say, “no.”

 

“ _What?_ ” Minghao couldn’t help but blurt out.

 

Junhui stared at him with a sweet smile, “sorry, Officer, but I can’t help you. I have nothing to say.”

 

“You don’t even know what I’m going to ask yet!” Minghao argued, annoyed at how nonchalant the other was being about all this. Somewhere in the back of his mind told him to be on the defense, too— there could be another reason why Junhui didn’t want to say anything. As much as he hated to jump to conclusions, Junhui might even be involved. At this point, everybody could have been a suspect, so he had to be careful.

 

“I’ll talk if you buy me food,” Junhui then said. “I’ll even take you there myself so you won’t get lost.”

 

“You’re kidding me.”

 

“I’m really not,” the other boy replied in a sing-song voice, smiling at him playfully now as if he knew Minghao had no choice but to agree. “What do you say? One order of xiao long bao and fried shrimp balls— we could share, too— and we’ll be good to go. Did you get that, Auntie?”

 

The lady turned to Minghao for confirmation. What’s a few thousand won if the lives of fellow officers are at stake, right? He sighed in defeat, which was a good enough sign for the store owner to begin making the order. She gestured for them to sit while they waited. Junhui did so happily, finding a two seater table and gesturing across him with a flourish that Minghao should take his seat as well. The latter did so begrudgingly.

 

“So, what’s your name, Officer?” Junhui started.

 

Minghao gestured to the name plate on his uniform as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, but Junhui took one glance at it and shook his head. 

 

“You’re not _Seo Myeongho_ ,” he said cheekily, causing Minghao to furrow his eyebrows in question. “I meant your Chinese name, of course. I was never good at translating Korean characters in Chinese and vice-versa. Way too much work.”

 

“Xu Minghao,” the brunette finally offered after debating with himself whether he could trust Junhui with such information. If the kind store owner did, then maybe it shouldn’t be that bad; even if he had worked at Tien Mun before. Junhui repeated the name once, twice, enunciating the syllables a few times before regarding Minghao with a teasing smile.

 

“Can I call you Haohao?”

 

“No,” Minghao replied immediately. 

 

Junhui pouted at that; whatever he was about to say next was interrupted by the lady appearing beside them with two bamboo containers that contained the dimsum, along with chopsticks for them both. The black haired boy beamed at her, saying thank you multiple times and also throwing in some compliments that she had the best dimsum around town. Minghao wanted to roll his eyes at the blatant flattery, until he took a bite of the fried shrimp ball and thought maybe he wasn’t exaggerating things after all. 

 

The portions of food were finished off quickly enough. Soon, the two had stood up and were saying good bye to store owner, who wished Minghao good luck with the case. Minghao thanked her gratefully as he exited the store, glad to finally be back on track. He turned to his companion, ready to be led to wherever Tien Mun was, only to find that Junhui was steadily walking away from him— and not in the direction the lady pointed out earlier.

 

“Hey, wait!” Minghao called out, walking after him when he realized that Junhui wasn’t stopping. He quickened his pace until he was able to overtake the taller boy, stopping in front of him. “You’re supposed to take me to Tien Mun. Auntie said it was that way, wasn’t it?”

 

“I lied,” Junhui said simply, beginning to walk past Minghao once more.

 

The police officer grabbed Junhui’s wrist before he could go any further, whirling him around so that their eyes met again. Minghao couldn’t contain his anger when he saw that Junhui had merely laughed, lightly shaking Minghao off once the latter’s grip had gone slack at the surprise. Junhui didn’t move after that, just crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at Minghao, waiting for him to speak.

 

“I bought you food,” Minghao began to say, careful not to raise his voice so he won’t attract attention. “You said you’d take me there.”

 

“Like I said, I lied.”

 

“What—“

 

“It’s called a hustle, sweetheart,” Junhui interrupted, smirking as he turned and began to walk away again. This time Minghao was both too annoyed at Junhui and angry with himself for trusting him in the first place to do anything about it, watching the boy leave. Fine. He didn’t need Junhui’s help anyway. He recalled the directions given to him earlier and figured he could do it on his own

 

/

 

Turns out, the trip to Daelim was useless. 

 

Actually, it was more than that, since not only was it a waste of time and energy, it was also a waste of money. _Wen_ _Junhui_ , Minghao recalled bitterly when he found his way back to the office later that afternoon. He had managed to follow the instructions the lady gave him, only to end up in front of a store that had just closed— for good, it seemed. Others around the area had informed him that Tien Mun had shut down just a few days ago, actually. He tried to get some sort of information out of them, maybe if they’d spotted Jihoon or were aware of what had happened the past few weeks, but everybody replied the same thing: they don’t know. 

 

Nobody had any useful information about who the owners were, either, or where they had gone. Some people said the Chinese couple who owned the place were nice people, while some said they barely saw them around. A few even said they were Korean and not Chinese. One kid began to animatedly talk about seeing a short, blonde boy but Minghao stopped listening to _that_ story when dragons were suddenly involved. He didn’t know what to believe in anymore.

 

He knew he still had one lead, though.

 

The lady’s words from earlier rang in his head— _Junhui used to work at Tien Mun._

 

Like _hell_ he was going to ask that guy for help again, though.

 

Jeonghan must have noticed his mood, before the senior police officer stopped by his table with a worried expression on his face. A lot of the other officers have asked him and Minki for help, but Minghao wasn’t one of them. He heard the conversation the younger boy had with Seungcheol earlier, too— Jeonghan was beginning to think that Minghao wouldn’t want to burden anybody and take everything on himself, which would have been a very bad thing. He was technically right.

 

“Myeongho,” Jeonghan called out gently, offering a smile when Minghao looked up at him. “Do you need more information? Which case did you get? I heard it was the thinnest one.”

 

Minghao nodded glumly, taking the case file from his back and handing it over to the blonde. 

 

“Oh, Jihoon’s case,” he said with a pang of sadness creeping up his voice. They had been in the same classes back at the academy and got along really well. Jeonghan read through the short file and handed it back to Minghao. “I remember him telling us before he left that he suspected Tien Mun— that’s the store in the photo, right?— was secretly producing drugs behind the scenes. Someone was their mule. He went to check, but…” 

 

“It’s okay,” Minghao supplied, not wanting to make Jeonghan feel worse. 

 

“I take it you’ve been there already?”

 

“Yeah,” Minghao said, suppressing a groan as he remember earlier’s events. “Dead end, if anything. The store closed just a few days ago and nobody around the area knows why, or had useful information. I think Jihoon must have been on to something.”

 

“He’s really good at what he does,” Jeonghan said quietly, staring at the folder. “If he had a lead, it was definitely in the right direction. I hope you find out what happened.”

 

Minghao couldn’t handle the frustrated expression on Jeonghan’s face; If Jeonghan could go there himself, he would, but Seungcheol had given him and Minki strict orders to work behind the scenes instead. It wasn’t a dead end at all and Minghao knew that, knew that he had to contact Junhui again somehow, knew that he had to set aside his petty feelings for the greater good.

 

He had to find Junhui again.

 

“Yeah. I will.”

 

/

 

That night, Minghao didn’t sleep.

 

He lay awake in bed, mind racing with ideas; plans and back up plans and back up plans for the back up plans, interrogation tactics, and more. He went through all the facts he had and memorized them by heart, making sure he never forgets. It wasn’t that he didn’t _want_ to sleep— the whole day had actually drained him, physically , emotionally, and mentally— but he found that he _couldn’t_ sleep. 

 

Every time he closed his eyes, he would see Jihoon. 

 

The scene went down like this: Jihoon, in that large, dark sweater he was said to be wearing. He would be in front of the store, face grim, as if he already expected the worst to happen. There was a gun hidden somewhere on his person, that was for sure, along with a few other things. He would have came prepared, there was no doubt about it. That was the thing that made everything so, so much worse. Jihoon was definitely prepared.

 

The scene would turn black, Jihoon would disappear, and Minghao would open his eyes again.

 

After he had finalized his own game plan, he thought maybe he could get some sleep now that he had the comfort of actually doing something.

 

Wrong.

 

This time, when he closed his eyes, he would see his father. He would hear the whispers he heard when he was younger— the neighbours were always a gossiping bunch— swirl around in his head. His father _must_ have been involved with the drug syndicate rampaging around Anshan and the rest of China, why else would he have been killed? He must have been asked to deliver something and failed. He was definitely guilty for _something, anything._

 

Minghao would see his mother, too, crying as she held him close. 

 

_Don’t listen to anything they tell you_ , she said. _Your father was an innocent man._

 

Sleep, he figured, could wait. 

 

/

 

The following morning, he woke up bright and early to head to Daelim again. Minghao had taken the initiative to finally change to civilian clothing the second time around, throwing on a snapback for fashion’s sake. This time he was more than just determined to get answers— he was going to find Jihoon and he was not going back to the office without him, and hopefully the others. He kept his gun hidden underneath his shirt and his badge wedged in his wallet. He slipped a recording pen inside his pocket, too, just to be sure.

 

After a quick stop at the office for the usual briefing and also sharing of information— the others were also beginning to pick up on things, none that connected to Minghao’s though, since most of them had to travel to other cities and weren’t actually around— he went on his way. The officers offered each other good luck as they went their separate ways. 

 

It was barely 9AM in the morning.

 

Would that rascal Wen Junhui even be awake yet?

 

Minghao gave himself a few minutes to walk around the area, examining things he might have missed the first time around. He didn’t ask things, yet, opting to stay undercover a little bit longer. He’d start after he found Junhui. Everything would start after he found the black haired boy, so he hoped to spot him soon. 

 

“That’s a thousand won for one pack.”

 

Speak of the devil.

 

Minghao turned a corner just in time to hear the familiar voice, which caused him to hide behind a nearby post. He peeked just a little in time to see Junhui hand out a small packet of what looked like white powder to a young kid. The kid couldn’t have been more than 9 years old, eyes wide and bright as he handed the older boy a thousand won bill and accepted the packet, shouting his thanks before running off. Junhui watched him run off with a chuckle, taking out a wad of bills from inside his coat pocket and adding his latest earning from it.

 

On the table were more tiny packets of powder.

 

_No way._

 

“Wen Junhui, you’re under arrest,” Minghao said, walking over to him with a steady glare.

 

“Oh, Officer Xu Minghao, good to see you again!” Junhui greeted happily, waving at him as if he wasn’t just selling illegal substance to children. Minghao was almost speechless at that. “I must admit I’m surprised you’re back here. May I ask what I’m arrested for, Officer?”

 

“Don’t play dumb,” Minghao hissed, gesturing to the table between them. “You have a lot of nerve selling these out in the street. And to children, of all people?”

 

Junhui was still smiling, “I think we’re at a misunderstanding here.”

 

He grabbed one of the packets, ripped it open, and reached over to hand it to Minghao. He still had that foxlike smile on his face as he did so, urging it in Minghao’s hand, which the latter did so in a sense of bewilderment because what was this guy going? Did he want to end up in jail this badly? Didn’t he know the consequences of his actions—

 

“Taste it,” Junhui said, dumping the contents onto Minghao’s open palm. He dipped a finger in it himself brought it to his lips, licking it as he stared at the police officer, who could only stare in shock. “No, really. It’s basically sugar. Powdered candy.”

 

“As if I’ll believe that,” Minghao said, finally snapping out of it, practically glaring at the substance on his palm. The other boy rolled his eyes, dipping his finger into it and bringing it to his lips again. He did it a third time, watching Minghao each time he did with a teasing expression. Finally annoyed by the smug look, Minghao dips his own finger in and tastes.

 

Sweet. Vaguely strawberry. 

 

Candy.

 

Junhui beamed at him, “like it? I buy normal hard candy then just pulverize it. Smart, right? I’ve been selling this for years, Minghao. That’s the strawberry packet. I have it in lemon, orange, and grape. Believe me now, _Officer_?”

 

He said the last word with clear sarcasm that made Minghao’s blood boil.

 

“I’ve seen you around before,” Junhui began to say again before the brunette could get a word in. He was arranging the packets on the table again as if it was the most natural thing to do. “Usually whenever I saw you, you were in an orange vest though. _Meter boy_ , right? I haven’t seen you around these parts before, though. Undercover, too! Well, except for yesterday. Finally catching a big break?”

 

Minghao opened his mouth to argue, but Junhui continued undisturbed.

 

“If you came here looking for me, I’m flattered, really,” he said with a chuckle. “My answer remains the same, though. You have questions, I know, but I just don’t have any answers. You can leave now.”

 

“I heard the lady from yesterday. She said you’ve worked at Tien Mun. You have answers,” Minghao finally spoke, trying his best to keep his voice calm even if he was seething. It was one thing that Junhui didn’t want to help him, but another that he was openly _mocking_ him, too. Still, he needed the other boy on his side. One way or another. If he could just figure out a sure fire way to get him to cooperate, maybe.

 

“Ask somewhere else,” Junhui said again, fully expecting Minghao to give up and leave by this point. Instead, when he looked up again, he was met with the police officer’s shiny badge in his face. 

 

“Uhm, what?”

 

“Wen Junhui, you are under arrest.”

 

The boy snickered, “for what, hurting your feelings?”

 

“Felony tax evasion,” the brunette replied with a smirk, enjoying how Junhui’s eyes widened. “You’ve been doing this for years, was that what you said? I don’t think I need to check the records to know you haven’t been selling this properly. No permit, nothing. Am I right? Or, hm, am I right? Five years jail time. I suggest you cooperate with me.”

 

Junhui scoffed, “as if they’ll believe you, meter boy.”

 

At that Minghao took the recording pen from out of his pocket, hitting a button to playback what just transpired. The part where Junhui admitted to the things he just did was played back perfectly; the black haired boy’s smile faltered by the second.

 

After a few moments of silent shock, Junhui chuckled.

 

“You’re good, Minghao,” he said, regarding the boy with a few slow nods. “I wonder why they kept you on parking duty for so long?”

 

“That’s besides the point. Tien Mun. Tell me what you know.”

 

“If I say I don’t know anything, will you believe me?”

 

“No.”

 

Junhui sighed, “alright. Fine. I’ll talk.”

**Author's Note:**

> Uploaded for Junhao Day 2017
> 
> If you like my work and would like to support me, please consider buying me coffee! https://ko-fi.com/stilljunhui


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